1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric connector and more particularly, to an open terminal connector, which has baffles provided at the rear, bottom and lateral sides of the terminal block to prohibit the molten material from entering the wiring holes of the terminal block during molding of electrically insulative inner and outer housings and to reinforce the structural strength of the connector, and which has the electrically insulative outer housing directly molded on the parts to prohibit the internal metal conducting terminals and the circuit board from direct contact with the outside air, allowing the connector to be used under a high humidity and/or critical temperature environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Following fast development of communication technology, communication networks have also been well developed. LAN (Local Area Network) and WAN (Wide Area Network) are categorized subject to their scope and scale. A LAN connects network devices over a relatively short distance. A WAN is a geographically-dispersed collection of LANs. The Internet is the largest WAN, spanning the Earth.
Either in LAN or WAN, Ethernet has proven itself as a relatively inexpensive, reasonably fast, and very popular LAN technology. Ethernet cables (fiber optics or twisted pair) are limited in their reach, and these distances are insufficient to cover medium-sized and large network installations and therefore intermediary devices such as hubs, switches, routers, and etc., are used in Ethernet, allowing multiple cables to be joined and greater distances to be spanned. By means of the combination of Ethernet cables with hubs, switches and/or routers, an Ethernet networking allows transmission or control of data or instructions among different LANs, computers, and/or other devices such as surveillance systems, security systems, automation systems, etc.
Further, the network configuration of an industrial surveillance system, security system or auto-control network is based on peer-to-peer technology. Either in LAN or WAN, transmission interface means is necessary for connection between the local site and the remote site for local/remote control. Different transmission interfaces require different connection devices and different connection lines, and have different limitations on connection distance. For example, RS-485 can be used to communicate with remote devices at distances up to 4000 ft (1200 m) at speeds of up to 100 Kbps at this distance. Further, RS-485 is an ISI modle physical layer electrical specification of a two-wire half-duplex, multipoint serial connection. According to this specification, one polarity of voltage indicates a logic 1 level, the reverse polarity indicates logic 0. Except RS485, many other transmission interfaces can be used for data transmission among different departments, zones, or floors in a factory against electromagnetic interferences from the machinery or control terminal. For connection between different transmission interfaces at the local or remote site, a connector or adapter is required.
For the connection between different interfaces using different wires or having different pins, it is suggested to use a connector having open terminals or contacts. Conventional open terminal connectors or open contact connectors commonly use an electrically insulative outer housing formed of a top cover shell and a bottom cover shell to protect the terminal block. However, these open terminal connectors or open contact connectors are still not satisfactory in function because of the following drawbacks:
1. Because the electrically insulative housing is formed of a top cover shell and a bottom cover shell and the top and bottom cover shells are fastened together with internal or peripheral fastening members, the structural strength of the electrically insulative housing is not strong, and the electrically insulative housing tends to be damaged after several mounting and dismounting procedures or upon an accidental impact.
2. Because the top cover shell and bottom cover shell of the electrically insulative housing are simply capped on the connector body, the internal electrical devices are exposed to the outside air. When the connector is used under a high humidity or critical temperature environment, the circuits of the circuit board will be damaged soon, shortening the working life of the connector.
To keep conducting terminals exposed to the outside for quick connection and to have match with different achieve satisfy conversion between different
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an open terminal connector that eliminates the aforesaid problems.